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This man contacted me about 2 years ago on Match.com, got on yahoo chat and claimed he bought a contract to buy oil and the price rose and he needed to borrow $12,000 from me. He claimed he was stranded in the UK. I immediately broke contact with him and don't have any headers to trace since I deleted his messages. I'm sure this is a fake profile. He had picture of a white man with his son. The English is fairly good but there are mistakes that a native speaker would not make. I wonder if any of you can tell where he is from. Is he Nigerian? He said his name was Smith Hamilton and an Australian living in California. Liars love to talk about the importance of honesty. Here was the first letter to me:


Well I looked at your profile before sending you that first email, I noticed that you and i have a lot in common. As a matter of fact i have never done online dating before; it was a friend of mine that recommended me to this website because this was were he met his wife and they are living happily together now. So I have decided to give it a try. i have been divorced for two years yes now i am 51yrs old. I have two lovely kids(Wesley 6 Angel 9) that live with their mom and sometimes they do come around to spend holiday with me. Now I feel life is getting too lonely and boring I need someon e in my life. A soul mate and life partner.

Well I read your profile and I must confess that you sound very interesting and I would love to know you better. Do not worry about the distance because I wouldn’t mind relocating as long as I find you as my soulmate.

Well before pushing further let me start by telling you a little about myself. I was married for 10yrs and Two yrs ago I got divorced to my ex wife because things were no longer working out. She became unfaithful to me and I had to caught her in act. I couldn’t take it any longer. After a marriage that lasted for 10yrs with two kids and she was still not committed to the marriage that means it wasn’t meant to be.

well i read your profile over and over before sending you that first email, wow i must confess that you sound very interesting and i would love to know you better.

I need a woman that is matured, responsible, understanding and also God fearing.
I had problems in my previous marriage due to lies and unfaithfulness from my ex.

Well about me i am originally from Australia I was born and raised in New South Wales . I left my country due to the nature of my job I have lived in Orleans for over 18yrs. I am an Engineer by profession I have a Bsc degree in Petroleum Engineering and also acquired a Masters degree in corrosion Engineering. Due to my experience and level of expertise in the oil industry, I work as an Engineering Contractor to Various oil companies across the United States , Middle East and some part of Europe . I supply them with finished petroleum products; I carry out (PSV) Calibrations and also service their heavy duty machines.

I love the outdoors activities. Like going to the beach, swimming pool and camping. I am romantic, affectionate, and easy going and I love to cook.

My kinds of music's are Gospel, country, jazz, salsa, RnB and classic rocks. What turns me on is honesty and neatness, lik e they say cleanliness is next to Godliness. My turns off are lies and dishonesty.

Like I told you earlier, It was a very good friend of mine that introduced me to this dating website because this was where he met his wife and they are living happily together I have decided to give it a try and I strongly believe it will work for me. As a matter of fact you seem to be very nice and understanding I would love to go into something very serious with you possibly marriage, If it’s the will of God.

Tell me more about yourself? Were you are originally from? When was the last time you were in a serious relationship?

I will look forward hearing from you from via yahoo chat, my id is smithhamilton534 , you are to send me an email at smithhamilton534 at yahoo dot com. Cuz i seldom come to match.com.
Have a lovely day.
Smith Hamilton.

Hi Anita, Yes you have identified correctly, this is a scammer. It is a script used many times by scammers.

Without Headers and IP, it is impossible to say exactly where the scammer is emailing from. It could be from an English speaking country, West African Country, Malaysia or even China. More likely it is from West Africa, but cannot pinpoint on email script alone.

It really isn't important where this criminal was writing from, what is important is you didn't send money to him. It certainly isn't worth you contacting him again.

Yes quite right. Most likely Nigerian. I don't know why but they have this habit of making up names like Smith Hamilton, Jones Micheal -which no western person would have, they think backwards in some way.

God fearing

is another favourite phrase.

xxxxxxx at yahoo dot com

is a another favourite trick they use. They think that doing that bypasses word filters that prevent email addressses being put in paid site pages. I know......It doesn't work but they think it does, because most of the time they are on free sites where it doesn't matter. I definitely think Nigerian.
If you notice the letter has distinct parts and repeats some. It is part of a script roll. The person isn't too clever at reading this, and certainly didn't write it.
You could Google any paragraph or sentence and probably find it elsewhere, especially ones here that begin with "well". I personally love doing that as part of scam hunting, and scammers love useless tosh!

I told him it's not appropriate to ask a woman he's never met for money. He was very persistant and obnoxious. I dropped him off my yahool after that and he did not try to pursue me again. He's not Australian or Californian. No one says "God-fearing" in California. I won't point out the rest, but definitely not a native speaker.